FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 9, 2017
Media Contact: Aidan Morishita-Miki
[email protected] | 416-975-9130 x35
BUDDIES ANNOUNCES PROGRAMMING FOR THE 38th RHUBARB
FESTIVAL
Festival Sponsor TD Bank Group
FEBRUARY 15 - 26, 2017
EVENT AND TICKET INFO AVAILABLE ON-LINE AT
http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/rhubarb
Canada’s longest-running new works festival returns for its 38th year! For two weeks, the
Rhubarb Festival transforms Buddies into a hotbed of experimentation, exploring new
possibilities in theatre, dance, comedy, music, and performance art. Rhubarb is the place to
experience the most adventurous ideas in performance and catch your favourite artists
venturing into uncharted territory.
This year, we are pleased to announce that Heritage Canada is returning as a Rhubarb funding
partner, after funding was discontinued under the Harper government in 2013. We are grateful
to the many community members who supported and advocated for Buddies and Rhubarb when
this funding was cut.
On announcing the festival line-up, Rhubarb Festival Director Mel Hague comments, “This year
the Rhubarb Festival is looking both forward and back – with two evening presentations devoted
to looking at our past, and a full programme of some of the most cutting-edge new artists and
works in Canada and beyond. This year Rhubarb invites you to Get Weird with us. With over
100 artists, 20 new works, and 7 special events, Rhubarb38 invites you to join us for
performance that is bold, that is unapologetic, and that is always provocative.”
Festival highlights include:
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The Rhubarb Haunted House: a full-facility performance installation that brings back
the ghosts of Rhubarb past, featuring David Bateman, Daniel Ellis, Virgilia Griffith,
the Independent Aunties, Justin Manyfingers, Fay Slift, Brian Solomon, Trixie &
Beever and Jacob Zimmer – co-curated by Mel Hague and Rhubarb alum Chad
Dembski
A performance by prolific New York-based performance artist, poet, and activist
Staceyann Chin in partnership with FADO’s Monomyths series
Rhubarb Does Movie Night: a one-night collaboration between Rhubarb, Inside Out
and Images Festival featuring queer film and video
A new show about a time travelling treadmill from NYC/Toronto-based performance duo
AnimalParts
A Toronto edition of Reginald Edmund’s Black Lives, Black Words, featuring new short
works by local Black playwrights – in partnership with Obsidian Theatre and the National
Arts Centre
Dur à Cuire, a new show by Scotty Dont that blends acrobatics, dance, and knifethrowing to explore the weight and absurdity of gender and racial norms
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 9, 2017
Media Contact: Aidan Morishita-Miki
[email protected] | 416-975-9130 x35
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A new work by BAMBITCHELL juxtaposing the 15th century trial of an egg-laying rooster
with images of drag queens and other pop culture references
A brand new sketch comedy piece by Toronto's Indigenous women's stand-up comedy
collective, Manifest Destiny’s Child
New short works from Jivesh Parasram, Gitanjali Lena, Gein Wong, Sonny Mills,
Izad Etemadi, JP Faienza, Open Fortress, and more
A STAGE FOR QUEER ARTISTS
For years, Buddies and Rhubarb have nurtured queer artists and their work. The 38th Rhubarb
Festival continues this tradition, with projects led by queer artists such as Bambitchell, lo bil,
Staceyann Chin, Scotty Dont, Izad Etemadi, Claren Grosz, Anthony Johnston, Gitanjali
Lena, Sonny Mills, Keshia Palm, Patrick Salvani, Anais West, and Gein Wong.
Buddies’ Emerging Creators Unit also continues to showcase the voices of emerging queer
talents, this year featuring the work of Bilal Baig, Teiya Kasahara, François Macdonald, and
Sofia Rodriguez, led by ECU director Sunny Drake and company dramaturg Mel Hague.
This year’s festival also features a work-in-progress presentation of The Youth / Elders Project,
a year-long community arts project led by Evalyn Parry, Vanessa Dunn, and LeeLee Davis
that brings together a group of queer youth and elders to investigate the queer histories of our
communities. This project has been in development since September 2016 in partnership with
The 519 and Senior Pride Network, and will premiere on the Buddies main stage in May 2017.
MEDIA INFO
INTERVIEWS - Festival artists and Festival Director Mel Hague are available for interviews in
English; a list of French, Spanish or Farsi-speaking artists is available on request.
REVIEW POLICY - Media are invited to participate in the entire festival, but Rhubarb has a
strict no review policy. For accreditation, contact Aidan Morishita-Miki at 416-975-9130 x35 or
[email protected].
ON-LINE RESOURCE - The Buddies website includes a Media Centre that houses press
releases, images, and other pertinent information for easy download.
www.buddiesinbadtimes.com/media
PLEASE ADD TO YOUR LISTINGS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
THE 38th RHUBARB FESTIVAL
Festival Director Mel Hague
February 15-26, 2017
TICKETS:
Wed-Sun - $20 Evening/Day Pass
Emerging Creators Unit Presentations - PWYC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 9, 2017
Media Contact: Aidan Morishita-Miki
[email protected] | 416-975-9130 x35
Rush Ticket Policy - PWYC (limited to 10 tickets per day every Thurs-Sun, max 2 per person)
Box Office 416-975-8555 or buddiesinbadtimes.com/rhubarb
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto ON
---Established in 1979, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a professional Canadian theatre company dedicated to the
development and presentation of queer theatre. Over the course of its history, it has evolved into the largest facilitybased queer theatre company in the world and had made an unparalleled contribution to the recognition and
acceptance of queer lives in Canada.